Memorization tricks, tips, and techniques.

I like to memorize songs. I like to have some songs to sing if anyone asks me to play something for them and I like to have a variety to choose from if they do. When I'm busking on the corner it is easier to manage without sheet music blowing around or my tablet getting knocked over. When I'm playing somewhere with the music in front of me it is easier to look up at the audience once in a while instead of always looking down at a music stand. Sometimes I just like to go out somewhere and just play my ukulele without being encumbered with anything else. Finally, I just like memorizing music.

So, first off if find a song that I like, I find it on YouTube, and I listen to it until I'm familiar with the tune and the words. Sometimes I might have the lyrics handy and sing along with it until I feel familiar with it. Then I write the chords on a piece of paper in their progression and look for anything that looks familiar that I might have learned in another song. Just a note, this becomes more and more common as I memorize more and more songs. I play the progression without any reference to the lyrics, until I have it down. Usually I hit it for ten minutes or so at a time. Two or three sessions and I usually have it memorized. Then I memorize the lyrics in the chorus one line at a time, and I throw the chords in, and sing it. It doesn't have to be good. Then I do the same with each verse. Again, it doesn't have to be good. I sing the song through by memory several times a day until I can do it in my sleep. At this point I am concentrating on good. Finally, when I own the song and can play it well, I spiff it up a little. Some finger style, maybe combine some melody with the chords. Just polish it up.

That is my method. It works for me. It usually takes a week to memorize a song. I can sometimes do two at a time, but it probably ends up taking the same amount of time to own them as it would if I just took them one at a time. I did memorize three songs in three days one time, but they all three had the same chord progression. I'm also getting to the point where I am forgetting some of the ones that I learned and don't ever play.

Sounds like you have a good routine/system developed. Mine is very similar. My only suggestion is to be sure to listen to the chord progressions when you are playing so you can hear the chord changes.

I can memorize chords but hopeless with finger style (tabs) which I play most of the time. If any one have that magic pill, please give me some!

Waiting patiently in the North Pole

SoloRule said:

I can memorize chords but hopeless with finger style (tabs) which I play most of the time. If any one have that magic pill, please give me some!

Waiting patiently in the North Pole

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If there is one thing that I have learned since starting on this journey it is that nothing comes easy.

SailingUke said:

Sounds like you have a good routine/system developed. Mine is very similar. My only suggestion is to be sure to listen to the chord progressions when you are playing so you can hear the chord changes.

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I think that you are right. I also think that memorizing requires one to listen. And another thing about that is that sometimes you get lyrics and chords off of the internet and the chord changes are not in the right place. Then if you just listen, you can figure out where they are supposed to go.

But I have also learned that memorizing song lyrics and the chord progressions helps me listen to songs and recognize lyrics and chord progressions.

Well, I've been at this for just over a year, & I can only memorise one tune in all that time, so I say you are lucky to be able to do that, a lot of us have great problems trying to memorise the simplest of tunes. :music:

uke1950 said:

Well, I've been at this for just over a year, & I can only memorise one tune in all that time, so I say you are lucky to be able to do that, a lot of us have great problems trying to memorise the simplest of tunes. :music:

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Well, it isn't easy for me. I put a lot of time and work into it. But I think that some people would rather put their efforts in other places. That's good too.

In regards to playing notes (not strumming), I've been doing a *lot* of memorizing lately of multiple fingerpicked songs as part of LUE; we're not to use music/stands in performances. Lyrics always come easy to me (I "visualize" the word movements and it's a snap--maybe that's why I like hula). For note playing, though, one thing that works for me is to take the entire piece in sections and repeat each section multiple times until I can play that section perfectly at least 10 times with no mistake; if there's a mistake, I start over at the first time. Then, at subsequent practice sessions, I play the now-easy/now-memorized part just once and then move on to the next difficult section. Once I've learned a section, it's more beneficial for me to work on the new stuff and not spend the practice time going back to the"known." In this way, the "known" stuff keeps stacking on top of each other so the entire piece is learned thoroughly more quickly. YMMV

"If there is one thing that I have learned since starting on this journey it is that nothing comes easy."

Yup! Already knew that! I was hoping there is magic pills that can improve memory!

Sounds like a good plan Rollie. Thanks for sharing!

When I have time for a full practice, I try to run through all of the songs I've written, all from memory. Now I have about 1 hr of songs with no repeats. I do this every day if I can to keep the brain imprints and muscle-memory in the fingers sharp and fresh.

With learning new songs, since I am mostly an auditory learner, once I know the chords, or the notes for fingerstyle, which I try to get quickly, I do not look at the music ever again if I can help it. If it is a song that I will sing or be playing chord-melody style, I will then either jam along with backing tracks (iReal Pro on iPad) or Band-In-Box on Mac, or just jam along with a recording, usually a YT video...

After a while, it just becomes permanent and I know I've forgotten more songs than I've learned. At one time I had about the 1st half of 'The Daily Ukulele' committed to memory, and that was simply by spending a few hours with it every day starting at page 1, and playing the tune until I was comfortable and then going to the next...

Now I see music as a huge pool of patterns, some related, and harmonious or complimentary, and others different, dissonant to each other or disconnected somewhat from the rest of the pool...

Sometimes it seems like I've internalized lots of what Ubulele so clearly explains, just be ear and by feel, but without the vocabulary to describe or explain it to anyone else, and sometimes it feels almost intuitive. I'm not a savant by any means, nor do I have 'perfect pitch' but I think I have developed my ear pretty well.

One day, when I have more time I would like to do a Vulcan Mind Meld with brother Ubulele so that I can quantify what my ear hears, since in depth music theory study was a long time ago, and I too dont like having a paper in front of me when I play, nor want to be encumbered by anything OTHER than 'just the music' (I know, this is an oxymoron because the theory is what MAKES the music 'work')...

But these days I am both impatient and more interested in the simplest 'roots' to make the song happen...

I plan to get out to do some open mic this year once again, and part of that plan is literally 'just me and the uke'.

No music sheets, no effects or gadgets, and I will stand or fall based upon my ability to perform well.

I am really trying for 'less is more' with everything in 2017 going forwards...

SoloRule said:

... I was hoping there is magic pills that can improve memory!

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I am no doctor, but I have found memory improvement from taking Ginkgo Biloba every day. Available in most health food stores like GNC, most pharmacies like Rite Aid, CVS, & Walgreens, as well as in the vitamins section of your grocery store.

see here:
Ginkgo Biloba on Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo_biloba

Mayo Clinic
http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/ginkgo/background/hrb-20059541

University of Maryland Medical Center
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/ginkgo-biloba

WebMD
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/supplement-guide-ginkgo-biloba#1

NOTE: This is NOT medical advice, nor intended as such. Do your OWN research, and that is what these links above are for. Neither I myself nor UU are responsible if bad things happen to you from copying what I do for my own health maintenance.

I used to buy ginko biloba, but I always forgot to take it!

fowl said:

I used to buy ginko biloba, but I always forgot to take it!

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Gigglegiggle.

I can remember the picking parts of songs I learned back before I knew where to put my fingers on the fret board without looking. Look at tab, look at fret board, pick that string = memorized.

I really struggle to remember songs that I "learned" once I could just look at the tab and play.

Thank you, Ubulele. What you explain goes to the heart of musical structure.

Hi, Rllink!

I just use very simple note when practice uke (photo below). I use it even for solo arrangement. I just add melodies by ear. I sing simple songs and play simple solos for fun.

gifs upload

I break songs and tunes into sections or phrases. Most melodies follow a particular theme or line and use a regular chord pattern which repeats throughout ie: C,Am/F, G or C,E7, A7, D7 or G,C, D etc. Of course there are many variations, tune to tune and internally, between verse and bridge. In the main these patterns are the building blocks so when I have a melody in my head and I know the key, I can associate a pattern with the tune.

I only have one tip. Memorize now. Don't put it off. I can no longer remember JACK!

Jack who?
Wait. What was the question?

Another side benefit of memorizing songs, sometimes when I go to bed I close my eyes and start going through the lyrics of songs that I have memorized over the last couple of years. Or if I wake up in the middle of the night I do that. It usually puts me to sleep pretty quickly.

Memorization of lyrics is same as memorization of poem. It is fun and often helps our thinking. Bob Dylan has got a Nobel Prize.